Ring For Nonsense
Summary When Ted wins him and his brothers a place at the poshest hotel in the county, trouble ensues. Plot The episode starts with Ted bringing in the milk and a newspaper from the front porch. As he goes back inside the house, we see that they are having cereal for breakfast, but Fred and Bobby are looking intently out the window. They are watching a cat chasing a bird around the garden, and cheer when the bird manages to escape. After a bit of non-sequitur confusion, Ted announces he is doing the Sunday crossword in the Smile News Newspaper. He tells Fred and Bobby about the chance you get to win something each week, and how previously he won a bread bin. In present terms, he has the chance of winning three places at Hotel De Poshington, the poshest hotel in the whole county. After getting confused and complaining about the disastrous telephone lines, Ted manages to get through to the newspaper office, and begins to list his answers while Fred and Bobby discuss how they fit in at a posh hotel. Bobby gives an example with an overly posh voice, and Ted declares he has won the place! The taxi arrives at 3 o'clock in the afternoon exactly, and the brothers are taken to the hotel. When they get their, Ted gives them a speech warning them not to misbehave, and to use their proper names. There is then a poshly spoken conversation between Bobby and Ted which amuses Fred. Bobby disheartens him by saying 'at least my names not as bad as Wilfred', which shuts Fred up for a bit. They ascend the stairs to the hotel, and speculate wondrously about the grand entrance hall. After a small argument with a snobby receptionist, Ted manages to obtain the keys and room number, of which they take the elevator to get to. Meanwhile, the manager of the hotel appears and asks the receptionist about the state of the hotel being suitable for the mayor's visit that afternoon. The receptionist informs him of the trouble the brothers may cause, reminding the manager of a 'history'. He tells the receptionist to get every member of staff to watch over the brothers and get them to stay away when the mayor visits, of which she agrees. When the brothers arrive at the floor, the amount of doors and possibility of getting lost makes Ted have one of his panic attacks, but he is calmed when Ted finds the door just two metres away. They all enter the room and admire it's views and television channels. Ted finds the place he has always dreamed of; a quiet spot with a view, a big armchair and a large bookcase with his favourite book ('A Book' by An. Orther). Fred and Bobby decide to explore downstairs. They arrive in the elevator at Hotel De Poshington's dining room, where fancy classical music plays and there is a buffet that Fred is immediately interested in. After Bobby complains about being too small to reach the table, Fred tells him that he needs to eat more greens, so Bobby goes to search for some in the kitchen. A chef with a plate of chicken comes out of the kitchen very quickly, and marches across the room, only to be interrupted by Bobby asking to borrow some greens. The interruption makes the chef slip over and hit a table, making the chicken fly once more. Meanwhile, at the elevator, the manager has just stepped out to greet his guests, where he is greeted himself by the chicken, much to his annoyance. He immediately blames Bobby, but he gets trapped in the elevator doors and can not escape. Fred gives him a telling-off, and he and Bobby leave pompously. They are chased by a waiter, but the manager still can not get out of the doors. Fred and Bobby run up the staircase and hide behind a large plant pot at the top. Fred has realised they are being followed, and he is correct. He asks for Bobby's cream crackers that he always carries, and throws one at the waiter. As the waiter turns around, a clod of mud from the plant pot hits him in the face, and since he can not see, Fred and Bobby take the chance to escape. There is then a chase throughout different elevators all over the floors of the hotel. After a while, Fred and Bobby arrive at the dining room elevator, where the manager tries to get them again, but cannot because he is still stuck. But then the waiter arrives and he is freed, but after he informs the waiter where the hooligans are going, he gets trapped in the doors again, this time on his sleeve. On another floor, the brothers and the waiter arrive and the chase continues, but this time Fred and Bobby board an old elevator with no pair, so the waiter goes down the maintenance staircase instead. But as he reaches the bottom where the brothers are supposed to be, the elevator passes him, going up again, and Fred and Bobby smugly waving from the window. The waiter is left angry and annoyed. Back at the entrance hall, the manager has finally escaped and being told by the receptionist about the mayor arriving soon. Upon further questioning, the manager has been told that the brothers have been taken care of. Just at that, the mayor's car arrives, and the staff smile as the mayor himself enters, announced by a terrible bugle player and a loud guard. The mayor enters and is impatient at the manager's extensive formalities, and demands his room. However, there is a loud bang and the chase enters the hall, this time with Ted somehow stuck in the middle. Fred notices the mayor, and stop suddenly, causing everyone to trip over. The waiter goes flying into a cabinet and papers spill everywhere. Ted lands next to the manager, and they recognise each other. A flashback occurs to the Smileton County Chess Championships in 2011 , where slightly younger versions of Ted and the manager, known as Harold, are playing chess in Smileton Park with many other tables around them. It looks like Ted is going to lose, but he comes up with an idea and manages to checkmate the manager. He is angered, and stands up and leaves in annoyance. We flash forward to the present, where Ted and the manager begin to argue about who cheated, but are interrupted by an angry speech by the mayor, who is disgusted by the staff's unkindness and the state of their reputations. He turns to Fred and Bobby, and gives them a lovely lollipop each for their suffers. Bobby mistakes the mayor for Father Christmas, but the mayor just thinks he is being kind, and says a permanent goodbye to the manager and his disgraceful hotel, the guard playing the bugle again as he leaves and enters his limousine. It is driven away back to the town hall, and the brothers are thrown out the hotel. They land on the street, but Fred and Bobby begin their posh act again, and we are left with Ted's irritated face as the episode ends. Trivia * This is the first time we see a flashback to Ted's past. * This is also the first time we see the Mayor of Smileton. * The episode also reveals the brothers' actual names: **Fred - Wilfred **Bobby - Robert **Ted - Theodore * We see more of Smileton's industrial landscape, and also reveals there is an Upper Smileton. * The title "Ring For Nonsense", is a reference to "Ring For Assistance", which is a phrase commonly used in hotels if they have a staff paging system. * The end credit theme is played on a real piano like the 'Hotel De Poshington theme' played earlier in the episode. * This is the first time the brothers are not wearing their usual colours for most of the episode. * The BBC Channel that is found by Fred is a real channel in the UK, and the video of the reporter talking is just an excerpt of BBC Breakfast (a morning program on that channel) that has been dubbed over. * This episode takes place on a Sunday, as from Ted's newspaper. * For the clock-ticking scene, stop-frame animation was used, one of the first instances since Season 1. * Ted shows his love of reading and peace again, but also has another easily-brought panic attack. * This episode is eight minutes long, making it the same length as the previous Christmas Special, however this episode is not a special. Mistakes * When the brothers look out the window of their room, the sky is light pink. However, when they are thrown out of the hotel later on, the sky is cloudy again. * In the small scene during the elevator chase where Fred and Bobby enter the elevator at the bottom of the stairs, Fred's arm is not coloured in properly. * The chicken that hits the manager disappears after sliding off his face.